Diseases of hearing, balance, and other communication disorders can be devastating, especially for children, because they decrease or prevent social interaction and well-being. Washington University School of Medicine has an established reputation for outstanding basic biomedical, clinical, and population health sciences research, which leads to the discovery of new cures and effective treatments for these diseases. The rationale for this training program is twofold: 1) a two-month research experience during the summer after the first year of medical school will encourage predoctoral medical students to pursue research training later in medical school and beyond and 2) a two-year postdoctoral research experience during residency training at a research-intensive university will lead to the development of physician-scientists who remain in academic medicine and compete successfully for NIH-sponsored research awards and eventually assume leadership roles in biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research within the areas of deafness and other communication disorders. The Overall Goals of the Otolaryngology T32 training program are to: 1) introduce outstanding predoctoral medical students to the excitement and challenges of basic, clinical, or translational research so as to stimulate an interest to include research as pat of their future career goals and 2) train postdoctoral otolaryngology residents in the tools and techniques of basic, clinical, or translational research so as to compete successfully for individual NIH-sponsored research awards and eventually assume leadership roles in research within the domains of deafness and other communication disorders. The Specific Aims of the Otolaryngology T32 Training Program are to: 1) Provide research experience with mentors conducting basic, clinical, or translational research in diseases and conditions related to deafness and other communication disorders; 2) Provide core and elective didactic opportunities to ensure trainees acquire in-depth knowledge of relevant basic, clinical, or translational research techniques; and 3) Provide curricula, seminars, workshops, and tutorials that focus on topics related to professional development skills. The Training Program will admit three predoctoral medical students and two postdoctoral otolaryngology resident physicians each year. All trainees will receive training in the responsible conduct of research. Formal evaluation of the trainee and mentor will be performed and all trainees will be tracked to assess the outcome of the Training Program.